Monday, January 23, 2012

New York Times bestseller Mary Jane Clark introduced readers to professional wedding cake decorator and amateur sleuth Piper Donavan in her acclaimed mystery novel To Have and To Kill. Piper’s back in The Look of Love, on cake creating assignment at a West Coast luxury spa for the wealthy and famous—where nip and tuck and murder are offered in equal measures. Clark really hits her stride with The Look of Love, providing a winning recipe for delectable mystery that combines chills, twists, humor and often very romantic suspense in the bestselling vein of Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, Faye Kellerman, Elizabeth Lowell, and Jayne Ann Krentz. She even includes scrumptious pastry recipes and fabulous cake design tips.

Piper Donovan accepts when the owner of Elysium, an exclusive spa and plastic surgery center, offers her an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to create a dazzling and unique wedding cake. The job also gives Piper the time and distance she needs to sort out her feelings for handsome FBI agent Jack Lombardi.

The ultra-luxurious spa caters to the rich and famous in need of a little “refreshing”—a nip here, a tuck there, a little Botox, a little detox. Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, Elysium seems picture-perfect: the grounds, the staff, even the guests. But no sooner does Piper arrive than a guest is brutally murdered in one of the private bungalows. Someone, it seems, wants to make sure Elysium’s beautiful director, Jillian Abernathy, never gets to walk down the aisle. Piper soon discovers that beneath the glamorous surface of this idyllic oasis lies an ugly truth—and a cold-blooded plan for murder.

PRAISE FOR THE LOOK OF LOVE:

“She understands how to hang on to her audience. Her characters are the sorts with whom many readers identify.”

— USA TodayClark fans will enjoy the short chapters, interconnected plotlines, and multiple points of view, all of which keep the pages turning.— BooklistPiper Donovan, professional cake decorator, actress and amateur sleuth, is back. A multilayered plot filled with murder, a taste of jealousy and a healthy dose of madness and mistaken identity is frosted liberally with a rich confection of humor and romantic suspense.— Romantic Times BOOKclub

"In a manner strikingly reminiscent of the author’s famous ex-mother-in-law, everything turns out in time for the diminished wedding party to enjoy a cake made from “the best pumpkin bread they have ever tasted.”

— Kirkus Reviews

Touches of humor keep the mystery light, the baking subplot keeps it cozy, and there is enough going on with family and Piper’s newly developing relationship to keep it real.… Clark’s fans and readers who enjoy mysteries in the vein of Mary Higgins Clark may want to check this out.— Library JournalABOUT THE AUTHOR:New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark has written 12 novels, all set in the high stakes world of broadcast journalism. She worked at CBS News headquarters in New York City for three decades, her experience there leading her to create KEY, a fictional television network. What her characters can get involved in as they cover their assignments is as varied as the stories on the morning or evening news. Her media thrillers are published in 22 languages.Fast-moving, unpredictable, and always changing, the television news world offers a never-ending stream of ideas for Clark’s books. Her writing style has been described as “clear and speedy.” Influenced by years of writing television news stories, where every second counts, she gets right to the action in her suspense novels, in which every word is a clue.The assignments Clark has completed in the real news world have informed her writing. Covering the 1992 National Presidential Conventions led to the idea for her first book, Do You Want to Know a Secret? Producing stories on the auction of the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the Princess Diana dress sale planted the seeds for Do You Promise Not to Tell?Assignments to write and produce obituaries on world leaders and entertainment personalities grew to become Let Me Whisper in Your Ear. On-air correspondents shared their experiences of being stalked by demented fans for Close to You. Covering an approaching hurricane on Florida’s Gulf coast was the premise for Nobody Knows. The anthrax scares at all three U.S. network news headquarters in the autumn of 2001 inspired Nowhere to Run. A love for Rhode Island led to the KEY News morning news show spending a week among the historic mansions of Newport in Hide Yourself Away.More recently, the high-profile shuffle of competitive network new anchors led to When Day Breaks, and the seed for It Only Takes a Moment came from childhood memories and fears of the kidnapping cases her father investigated.The daughter of a FBI agent, Clark grew up in Westwood, New Jersey, and graduated from the University of Rhode Island. She is the mother of two grown children and lives in New Jersey and Florida. She spends her time researching her next novel, writing, concocting new plots while walking the beach, decorating ,and supporting causes close to her heart, including research for a cure or treatment for fragile X syndrome.Q & A WITH MARY JANE CLARK:

Q: This is your tenth novel and it is as exciting as ever. How do you keep your writing fresh?
A: The world I've chosen to write about helps keep the writing fresh, I hope. Network television news offers a steady stream of suspenseful situations. What the characters can get involved in as they go out and cover their stories pretty well knows no bounds. Anthrax scares, hurricanes, political intrigue, art forgery, disappearances, murders…the potential situations are as varied as the news each morning. Every book is a fresh story, filled with different suspects with different motives.

Q: What inspired you to begin writing?
A: I had written non-fiction for years in the form of news stories for television broadcast. It was only after I became a single mother that I decided to try my hand at fiction. The kids were really little at the time and I'd write early in the morning before they got up, after they went to bed at night and whenever they weren't with me. It took me two years to write the first book, two years to re-write it and then the manuscript sat on a shelf in my closet for another two years before it finally sold.

Q: You work for CBS News; do you draw a lot of inspiration from your work there? What is one of the most exciting stories you worked on? Is fact truly stranger than fiction?
A: Having worked at CBS News for almost three decades, of course, I am influenced by my experience there. It is an exciting world, full of the unexpected. Over the years, I've had the privilege of working on so many things: presidential conventions, papal visits, royal weddings, celebrity funerals, terrorism attacks, executions, fires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. The news world never gets boring. Every day brings fresh developments, a different set of unexpected, almost unbelievable circumstances. So many times, a story will break and I'll turn to a colleague and say, "We couldn't make this up."

Q: Your son has Fragile X syndrome. What is it?
A: Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause of mental impairment, ranging from mild learning disabilities to severe mental retardation. It's also the most common known inherited form of autism. Symptoms can include average IQ of 75 or less, debilitating sensory issues, seizures, limited speech, poor gross and fine motor skills and behavioral outbursts.

I unknowingly carried the Fragile X gene and passed it on to David.

Q: Many of your books have included Fragile X syndrome in some way. How do you hope to raise awareness through your public persona?
A: While it is nearly as common as muscular dystrophy or cystic fibrosis, many people have never even heard of Fragile X syndrome. I want to help get the word out there.

In my first book, Do You Want to Know a Secret, a character with Fragile X held the key to the mystery. I have my characters attend Fragile X fundraisers and I've been dedicating books to those who struggle with Fragile X syndrome. In fact, When Day Breaks features a woman who bought the right to be a character in the book at Fragile X fundraising auction in Pittsburgh last year.

To read all the interesting questions and answers with Mary Jane Clark, visit the Harper Collins Author Interview HERE.

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:Mary Jane Clark gives readers an easy to enjoy mystery set amidst the glamour that is home to the likes of the real housewives of Beverly Hills. Not quite chick-lit, but just as enjoyable, this Piper Donovan mystery takes Piper to the land of glitz galore and a health resort located in the Hollywood Hills. Elysium is an elite spa, as well as celebrated plastic surgery center. The owner invites Piper to come visit and create an impressive, one of a kind wedding cake for Elysium’s director, his daughter Jillian Abernathy, who is soon to be married. With an invitation to also partake in all that Elite has to offer and all expenses included, how can Piper turn this down? What a gig, she thinks, and it will also give her time to think about her own life and where she wants to go from here personally and professionally. Piper’s desire to be an actress also finds being in Los Angeles is a good place for her to check on that part of her future plans as well.

Jillian, as well as her famous family, have many adversaries who want to stop this wedding, mostly to get back at her father. Before long, Piper finds herself lumped in with this group and a target as well. Piper is alerted early on when a worker is found dead in one of the cabins at the spa.

It seems that Jillian’s housekeeper had facial burns resulting from having acid thrown in her face and so she was being treated at Elysium. Esperanza was only answering the door at Jillian’s home when this happened but now the danger has spread to the spa as well. Sharing information that she may know more about the attacker, early on we find Esperanza murdered while in the supposed safety of the spa. The spa houses many enemies who Clark has woven into the narrative thus giving readers much to think about as far as who it could be that wants to get back at Jillian’s family so much.

Mary Jane Clark has created several complicated as well as fun characters and her short chapters keep the story moving as readers will want to read “just one more chapter” to find out another clue. Piper is a likable protagonist and one you find yourself rooting for. I especially always enjoy when an author brings food into the story and Clark does indeed include some delicious pastry recipes and marvelous cake designing ideas. Although the plot does have several suspects to consider, I found it easier than most to figure out whom the real villain in THE LOOK OF LOVE is. I was probably lucky but you should read this book to see if you feel the same way.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO A GREAT TEAM AT

WILLIAM MORROW PUBLISHING,

I HAVEONE NEW, HARD BACKCOPY OF THIS PIPER DONOVAN

MYSTERY TO GIVE AWAY!

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